For the third time in a row, the University of Wuppertal conducted a survey on fitness trends and asked fitness professionals: What will be a fitness trend in Germany in 2018? What is already "out" again? In which areas is demand increasing? Where is there potential? Here are the most important results of the representative survey on fitness trends 2018!
The TOP 5 fitness trends 2018
For fitness professionals, as in the last two years, "quality" is the most important trend. According to the survey, at the top of the fitness trends 2018 is Training quality/standard of fitness instructors..
In 2nd and 4th place are trends that focus on guided, health-related group training, namely. Fitness programs for older people and Guided group fitness.
Ranks 3 and 5 are occupied by trends that emphasize working with and for one's own body: Weight loss training and functional fitness. The latter was still in 32nd place in 2017 and has now made decent gains in the 2018 survey.
It is noticeable that among the ranks 1 to 5 of the fitness trends 2018 are the same trends as in the fitness trends 2016 and 2017 - and on the first four places even in exactly the same order!
Here are the TOP 20 fitness trends 2018 at a glance:
- Training quality/standard of fitness instructors.
- Fitness programs for older people
- Weight loss training
- Group fitness under guidance
- Functional fitness
- Workplace health promotion
- Training with your own body weight
- Rehab sports programs
- Fitness/health checks
- Prevention courses
- Cooperation with doctors
- Body & Mind
- Core training (training with focus on the body center)
- Outdoor activities (sports in the open air)
- Circuit training
- Fascia training
- HIIT
- Flexibility and mobility rollers (Blackroll)
- Yoga
- Sling training
Who are the losers in 2018?
Of course, there were also one or two trends that lost "trendiness" compared to previous years. For example, there is the classic strength training, which was in 9th and 7th place in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and is now only in 21st place in 2018. Also Personal Training, Cross Training, Pilates, Nutritional supplement and indoor cycling rank on the rear places. Fascia training has fallen out of the TOP 10, landing only in 16th place.
No longer a trend are apparently EMS training and Vibration training which now only appear in 37th and 40th place respectively. This is not to say that these sports are "out", but rather that they are probably no longer considered new and trendy because they are already established. EMS, for example, is currently more popular than ever!
Currently a big topic in the fitness industry is the digitalization of fitness and health training. All the more surprising, then, that this item only appears very far down the list of 2018 fitness trends. For example, the networking of studio and private training only made it to 29th place, and Wearables, which were discussed as part of the study "Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2017 by the American College for Sports Medicine (ACSM), ranked 32nd.
Conclusion
It is striking that the 2018 fitness trends are almost an identical representation of the trends from previous years. On a positive note, it seems that a high awareness of "quality" has been established in the fitness industry. The health orientation is increasing more and more, so both the rehabilitation sports programs and the fitness and health checks landed in the TOP 10. It is probably important for the fitness industry to offer both a high-quality care quality in group or personal training and health-oriented training programs - but only on the basis of a high-quality education and qualification of the trainers, the No. 1 of the fitness trends 2018!
The survey
The survey was developed and conducted by the Bergische Universität Wuppertal under the direction of Prof. Dr. Theodor Stemper. Support was provided by the FIBO, the DIFG (German Industry Association for Fitness and Health), the DFAV (German Fitness & Aerobics Association), the BVGSD (Federal Association of Health Studios Germany) and the magazine F&G.
Several hundred fitness professionals between the ages of 20 and 60 were surveyed, who had to assess 40 given fitness trends and their significance for 2018 in an online questionnaire. Important: The survey was not about what is currently popular in the industry or what is practiced by many exercisers!
Editors fitnessmarkt.de (SIS)
Image source: ©contrastwerkstatt - Fotolia
Published on: 6 February 2018